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31 Workers Rescued from Tunnel Collapse in Los Angeles; Firsthand Look at RV Camp Site Devasted by Floods; At Least 120 Dead, 160 Missing After Floods; FEMA's Flood Response Slowed by Noem's Cost Controls; DOJ Investigating Ex-FBI Director Comey and Ex-CIA Chief Brennan. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired July 10, 2025 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The death toll climbing as a desperate search continues in the missing in Texas. It's as we have new CNN reporting that says FEMA officials were blocked from acting fast, helped -- held up by red tape from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency oversees FEMA.

Plus, breaking overnight, 31 rescuers rescued in Los Angeles after a massive tunnel collapse. We're seeing video of the dramatic rescues and learning how those workers are doing this morning.

And poisoned protein shakes, an affair, and a jailhouse murder plot? What's happening today in the case of a Colorado dentist accused of killing his wife?

I'm Sara Sidner with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get right to the breaking news. A terrifying close call for more than two dozen workers who became trapped inside a collapsed tunnel. This happened in Los Angeles.

The crew was working on an L.A. municipal wastewater project when part of the tunnel suddenly fell in. Thirty one workers had to be rescued. Video from above shows just how big this site is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT FERRANTE, CHIEF ENGINEER, L.A. COUNTY SANITATION DISTRICTS: It was over five miles down the tunnel. It was about 400 feet below the surface.

So it is, without the lights and other equipment, you can imagine it is dark. It is a very large tunnel. It's 18 feet in diameter, so it is very large.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. CNN's Polo Sandoval is tracking all of this for us. Polo, what is the latest there? POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kate, what a headline. Thirty one workers trapped. Thirty one workers successfully rescued without injury. It is the best possible outcome that they could have hoped for last night there in southern Los Angeles.

We do understand that they were working as part of a wastewater treatment project there in L.A.'s Wilmington neighborhood. As you just heard a short while ago, the collapse itself happened about five to six horizontal miles from the access point that you see there on the video, which is that gaping hole.

You go down several hundred feet, and that's the entrance point. Based on what we've heard from officials, is that a portion of that 18-foot tunnel collapsed, and the workers at the site had to essentially climb over 13 to 15-foot piles of soil to get to their co-workers on the other side. From there, then they shuttled them to that entry point.

And then if you look at the video, you can actually see some of these rescue baskets or these capsules that were being used to remove these workers, about eight to ten workers at a time. You see some of them stepping out there, obviously grateful to be OK here.

Want to hear more from officials in terms of what they believe may have happened last night and also looking back on the events of last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM MCOSKER, LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCILMAN: This is a highly technical, difficult project, and they knew exactly what to do. They knew how to secure themselves. They knew how to get to the train that brought them back.

They knew all of the signals as we spoke to them. They talked about their relief as they saw every piece of their emergency preparedness come together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: The chief engineer for L.A. County's Department of Sanitation believes that a phenomenon known as squeezing ground is likely what may have caused this. Now, this is certainly going to lead us to further questions, Kate, as to why that happened. But in terms of looking back at the last several hours here and these efforts to rescue these dozens of workers, it seems that everything came together.

When you listen to the dispatch audio, Kate, there is clearly a tremendous sense of urgency to get these workers to safety. And they did exactly that.

BOLDUAN: Yes, it is. Just thank God for it. As you said, it's the best possible outcome and lessons to learn from it. But thank God. Thank you so much, Polo -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: What a night there. Meanwhile, new this morning, the rising toll in Texas, at least 120 people now dead, 160 others still missing, at least. And in the wake of this tragedy, there are questions about the federal response -- new ones.

Four officials inside FEMA tell CNN that cost controls implemented by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem requiring her, issuing a requirement that she personally OK anything more than $100,000 slow the agency's response. Sources say the FEMA's deployment of urban search and rescue teams, which are often prepositioned ahead of disasters, that deployment was delayed until Monday, 72 hours after the floods. The floods hit on Friday.

President Trump has said he plans to to wean off of FEMA, though he's been a bit more quiet about that in recent days. The Homeland Security secretary renewed the call to eliminate FEMA in its current form.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:05:00]

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Federal emergency management should be state and locally led rather than how it has operated for decades. It has been slow to respond at the federal level. It's even been slower to get the resources to Americans in crisis.

And that is why this entire agency needs to be eliminated as it exists today and remade into a responsive agency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: In a statement, a DHS spokesman told CNN, quote, FEMA is shifting from bloated, D.C.-centric dead weight to a lean, deployable disaster force that empowers state actors to provide relief for their citizens.

Our team is in the flood zone this morning. CNN's Isabel Rosales is in Center Point. Pam Brown is in Kerrville. Let's go first to Isabel. Isabel, you are actually in one of the locations where there's been great concern and you're getting a first look at this site.

What do you see?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, John, good morning. Yes, we're getting a firsthand look at the amount of devastation at numerous campsites and RV resorts all over the beautiful Guadalupe River. I mean, this was supposed to be the busiest weekend of the year for the owner of the Guadalupe Keys Resort.

If we move the camera that way, it looks like an empty lot. That is the resort. He had 12 campers on site there, RVs positioned there, over 30 people, children, families trying to have a good time and enjoy the holiday weekend.

And instead, at six in the morning, he woke up to pounding on his door from his park manager saying they had to get out. They went door to door to door, telling these families they needed to evacuate. And then in a matter of 20 minutes, that entire lot filled up with water and moved the trailers.

He thought he'd be OK because he was 20 feet above the ground, above the running water. But that wasn't the case. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DREW YANCEY, OWNER, GUADALUPE KEYS RV RESORT: It started. I took the golf cart up to mine, which was over there. Ran in and got my wallet and came back up and it was up to here.

ROSALES: That quick?

YANCEY: That quick. And then it went over the road.

That is my trailer.

ROSALES: That's your trailer.

YANCEY: Yes. And it's what I can see in it inside is just totally destroyed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES (on camera): Yes, and it's not just the trailer that he lost, but his home. And he says that if that knocking hadn't have happened by his park manager, he worries they may not still be here.

And it's not just the resort. There were other trailers here, including one that had been here since the 80s. Now that family also without their camper -- John.

BERMAN: Yes, it's still amazing to see all these trailers strewed about all these days after. Isabel Rosales, thanks very much.

Let's go to Pam Brown in Kerrville. And Pam, you're learning more about many of the victims. What are you hearing?

PAM BROWN, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, John, I'm really struck having been on the ground here for several days, just how close and tight knit this community is. They lean on each other. They lean on their faith. And it seems like everyone I've talked to on the ground here has a connection to one of the victims.

And I was walking in downtown Kerrville last night and came across a memorial that was just put together. It had the pictures of the victims and people were there leaving flowers.

And I spoke to one woman who was friends with Jane Ragsdale. She was the director of Heart of the Hills, the camp nearby, who was killed in the devastating floods. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LESLIE WELLS RAMBIN, FRIEND OF JANE RAGSDALE: I put sunflowers on here because she was sunshine to everybody that knew her. And we'll all miss her. Wonderful person, as good as they get.

Jane and everybody else on this wall, it's like a tragedy. And I'm from South Florida, from hurricanes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: It seems like Jane was such a fixture here in the community, as well as Dick Eastland, who was the owner of Camp Mystic as well. These camp leaders were such a big part of the community, and they're really grieving their loss.

We're also learning more about the victims, one of them being Mary Barrett Stevens. And there's a statement from her mom that she released that's truly heartbreaking.

Her mom says, You have left the most positive impact on everyone who knew you. I will never stop loving you and trying to live life as you did, fearless, enthusiastic, compassionate and full of joy.

And Mary's mother is asking the public to help locate her daughter's favorite toy she lost in the flood. That toy is a monkey. The mother says she's had it her whole life and was her most prized possession. We pray, we hope the family finds that monkey. Back to you.

BERMAN: That is heartbreaking. All right. Pam Brown, Isabel Rosales, thanks to both of you in Texas this morning -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you so much, John. Joining me now is Deanne Criswell, the former administrator of FEMA.

[08:10:00]

Let's start with this. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency oversees FEMA, says it has been slow to respond at the federal level and even slower to get to the rescuers to Americans in crisis. The entire agency, she says, needs to be eliminated as it exists today. What do you think of that?

DEANNE CRISWELL, FORMER FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: Sara, you know, I want to start by just repeating some of the things that she's been saying, is that these disasters are locally executed, state managed and federally supported. But this is not a new concept. This is something in the way that emergency management has always run.

And FEMA, during response, needs to get out there fast. They've always been out there fast. I know from my experience, some of the biggest complaints and concerns about FEMA really come in the recovery and the reimbursement of funding, but not in the response.

And they need to be able to continue to have the freedom and flexibility to move resources, anticipate what the needs of the state are, and get them prepositioned so we're not late to need.

SIDNER: Let me ask you this. I want to talk you through a little bit of the new CNN reporting that we have. We have several sources to CNN saying that rescue teams, which are normally prepositioned ahead of disaster, were delayed until Monday.

That was more than 72 hours after these horrific flash floods tore through the Hill Country. Is that a normal response time?

CRISWELL: No, not during my time. It would not have been a normal response time. When these floods happened in the early hours of Friday, the first thing that I would have directed my team to do is to move our urban search and rescue teams closer to the area, even before we knew what the impact was.

The whole point is to make sure you have enough resources if they're asked for by the state. And then if you don't need them, then you can just turn them around and send them back. And while the Coast Guard did amazing work in helping with that initial response, and they saved so many lives, we can see by the extent and the challenges of the debris that these additional urban search and rescue teams are needed to help find all of those that are still missing.

And because this approval apparently didn't happen until Monday, it took time to get those teams in place to help this community find those lost loved ones.

SIDNER: Do you think lives were lost because they didn't have the extra resources that they needed that could have been on the ground searching through this mountain of rubble and debris?

CRISWELL: Sara, I don't know if lives would have actually been lost in those first few hours. And I think the last live victims they found were on Friday. I mean, it still would have taken a day for these teams to get into the communities to help search for individuals.

And that's why the first responders are so important, right? This is why FEMA doesn't replace the first responders, because they can't get there in those first few hours. But they do provide training and experience.

And they send in additional technical assistance to help these teams that are already there, giving them the resources through grant funding so they have the technical capability to go in quickly. Some of those grants are also still in jeopardy. And so it could diminish the already minimized capacity that some of these jurisdictions have.

SIDNER: Noem recently enacted a rule aimed at cutting spending, saying that every contract and grant over $100,000 now requires her personal sign-off before any funds can be released. How might that affect the response to a fast-moving disaster like what happened in Texas?

CRISWELL: Sara, I can understand in some of the day-to-day operations of making sure that the funding is being spent prudently, right? We want to be good stewards of the taxpayer dollar. But in response, you know, I've always said time is our most critical commodity, and you can never get that back.

And so if you're making an added layer of approval, slowing down that response, slowing down that time, you lose the agility of what makes FEMA actually successful, right? And so when we look at disasters like Hurricane Helene, there were 15 urban search and rescue teams on the ground in North Carolina. By the time they got the approval for these teams to go into Texas, that's time that you just can never get back.

SIDNER: Deanne Criswell, thank you so much for taking the time to walk us through that this morning. Really appreciate it. Kate?

BOLDUAN: The Justice Department is moving now to investigate two officials who oversaw the Russia probe after President Trump's 2016 campaign, what the FBI is doing and how the targets of this investigation are responding now.

And Republican Senator Thom Tillis, he is now suggesting he regrets his support of Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense. Why he describes the secretary of defense as amateur.

And cyanide, arsenic and a jailhouse murder plot. Jury selection begins today in the trial of a dentist accused of poisoning and killing his wife and the wild twists along the way to this trial.

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, this morning, new details about an FBI investigation into two men that President Trump has long targeted with anger, just anger up until this point, but now maybe more. Former CIA Chief John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey, according to a source, officials are looking into whether Brennan and Comey made false statements to Congress about the 2016 investigation into Russian interference in that year's presidential election. Now, this follows a referral from the current CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

Former FBI, former CIA Director Brennan is slamming the investigation. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BRENNAN FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: And I think this is, unfortunately, a very sad and tragic example of the continued politicization of the intelligence community, of the national security process. And quite frankly, I'm really shocked that, you know, individuals who are willing to sacrifice their reputations, their credibility, their decency, to continue to do Donald Trump's bidding on something that clearly is just politically based.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:20:04]

BERMAN: Or with us now, CNN legal and national security analyst, Carrie Cordero, uniquely suited to discuss this. Carrie, first, let's start at the beginning here. What exactly does a referral mean from CIA Director John Ratcliffe?

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So when the intelligence community and the CIA is part of that, comes upon information that they think potentially warrants criminal investigation, some activity that they've come upon in the course of their work, what they do is they write that up, the lawyers in the agency would be involved, and they send that information over to the Justice Department. They refer it to the Justice Department. And then it's up to the Justice Department and the FBI, through its investigations, to analyze that initial referral, which is basically a lead, and determine whether or not additional investigation is even warranted in that circumstance.

BERMAN: So what exactly would they be investigating here, and how much liability do you think there might be?

CORDERO: Yes, John, I mean, I have a big question about that, because what I'm looking at so far is our reporting that this referral has been made. And then the other public document that's available right now related to this is a CIA note that was issued publicly at the end of June that describes basically a lessons learned that the CIA conducted at the direction of CIA Director Ratcliffe about the generation of intelligence assessments related to allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election. And to my mind, looking at those two things, there's a big gap between what's in that end of June CIA note or lessons learned assessment and the potential for criminal investigation.

So I have a lot of questions about what is the actual nature of the alleged criminal activity. There's nothing in that publicly facing June report that I see that would indicate criminal behavior.

BERMAN: What about the possibility of lying to Congress in their testimony, albeit lying to Congress a while ago at this point? We're talking 2018.

CORDERO: Yes, so, I mean, there's been a long time before that, and typically in some of our recent examples of congressional investigations, a referral about lying to Congress would come from Congress itself. So it's interesting to me that this referral, if false statements to Congress is the basis for it, that that would be the basis of the referral from the CIA. So I just think there's really a lot of questions, to my mind, John, about what additional information might exist or whether the CIA at this point did its look back.

And really, the nature of that June note that the CIA has issued is pretty unobjectionable. I mean, it just says that we could have done differently. Certainly we think that the CIA director was too involved, but it doesn't really contain damaging information as to these two individuals.

BERMAN: So even if, or if there isn't much to hang this investigation on, what will life be like for John Brennan and James Comey to be investigated, to be part of what could be a criminal investigation like this?

CORDERO: It depends on how extensive this investigation turns out to be. So the FBI and the Department of Justice could look at the referral that's been made and actually make a pretty quick assessment that there's no there there, and that they don't think that there is justification for continuing an investigation. Or the lawyers and the investigators could look at the referral and maybe some additional information that's been privately conveyed and open a more fulsome investigation.

In that case, even if there's no charges that are eventually brought, they, you know, could make life difficult for John Brennan and Jim Comey in terms of conducting further investigation of them, interviewing additional people involved, interviewing them potentially. So if it drags on, it certainly could impact them personally, even if there are no eventual charges brought.

BERMAN: Carrie Cordero, great to talk to you this morning. Thanks for explaining this all so well -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, ahead, Secret Service agents who were assigned to protect President Donald Trump on the day a man tried to assassinate him nearly a year ago have now been suspended. What we're learning about the move.

And Christmas gifts could be a little pricier this year.

[08:25:00]

Hasbro CEO warning prices may go up on some of your favorite toys. We have the details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: New this morning for you, multiple sources tell CNN that the Secret Service has issued suspensions for several agents who were responsible for securing last year's Pennsylvania rally where President Trump survived that assassination attempt there. The sources say at least two of those agents are appealing those suspensions.

Joining me now is CNN law enforcement analyst Jonathan Wackrow, who is also a former Secret Service agent.

What does this level of disciplinary action on several of these members of the Secret Service say about the Secret Service and about how DHS viewed what happened that day?

[08:30:00]